2023 at Goldsmiths
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We take a look at highlights from the past year on campus and beyond.
Breaking down barriers to student success
Our Equity Awards entered their second year, with the City of London Education Board awarding us £320,000 to support 35 Equity Awards for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic undergraduate students.
As part of our wider work to become an anti-racist organisation, we also launched our Race Justice Strategy in January to address institutional barriers to race equality.
Equity Scholars with Dr Marl’ene Edwin and Dr Matthew Carlile at an Equity Awards impact event on 31 January
Working towards LGBTQ+ equality
LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall awarded us a Silver Award for our work to advance LGBTQ+ equality as an employer, building on the Bronze Award we earned in 2022.
Our student and staff community were recognised for their achievements…
Five of our students and graduates were shortlisted for the Charles Parker Prize for Best Student Audio Feature, with MA Radio graduate Thea Pickard winning the Gold Award for her feature, 'Our Dad'.
The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) recognised two academics from the Department of English and Creative Writing, Professor Josh Cohen and Erica Wagner, who were selected as RSL Fellows. Henderson Mullin, who studied our MA in Black British Literature programme, was made an Honorary RSL Fellow for his work with underrepresented voices in literature.
Dr Ivano Cardinale, Reader in Economics at the Institute of Management Studies (IMS), received the prestigious Feltrinelli Giovani Prize 2022 for the Social Sciences. He was awarded by Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in the presence of the President of the Republic.
Ivano Cardinale receiving the Feltrinelli Giovani Prize 2022 for the Social Sciences
…while our alumni continued to make the College proud
Paulo Tavares, MA and PhD graduate from the Centre of Research Architecture, won the Golden Lion for Best National Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023. He won the award alongside Gabriela de Matos for their joint curatorial work on the Brazilian Pavilion, titled 'Terra', which featured projects formed from Indigenous and Afro-Brazilian knowledge.
In the world of fiction, Jacqueline Crooks, MA Creative and Life Writing graduate, was shortlisted for the 2023 Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize for her novel 'Fire Rush'. The novel is inspired by Crooks’ experiences growing up in the migrant community of 70s and 80s Southall, and her efforts to carve out space through music, culture, and politics.
Securing funding worth £250,000 for her boxing business, Marnie Swindells, BA History with Politics graduate, won The Apprentice 2023. The headquarters of Marnie’s boxing gym is located in south London.
Celebrating mould-breaking fiction
Benjamin Myers’ bold and experimental work Cuddy won the £10,000 Goldsmiths Prize, in association with the New Statesman. Dr Tom Lee, Chair of Judges, described Cuddy as “a book of remarkable range, virtuosity and creative daring”.
Benjamin Myers at the Goldsmiths Prize 2023 ceremony on 8 November
Collaborating across the country on data science and AI
We became a member of the Turing University Network, a coalition of 36 institutions dedicated to enhancing collaboration in the fields of data science and artificial intelligence. This connection enables our students and staff to collaborate with researchers from institutions across the UK and build on our expertise.
Revealing the hidden history of women’s sport
For the first time, a selection of extraordinary active and sportswear patents from the 1890s to the 1940s was brought to life by Kat Jungnickel, Professor of Sociology, and her team at the European Research Council (ERC) funded Politics of Patents (POP) project. Their research uncovered a hidden history of innovators and inventive clothing that helped women rebel against political and societal constraints to access active and sporting lives.
Left to right: Alice Lemkes, Lee Craigie and Phillipa Battye from The Adventure Syndicate, Goldsmiths’ Kat Jungnickel, and Aneela McKenna from Mòr Diversity wearing the invention collections
Leading research to support the creative industries
To help maintain the UK’s position at the forefront of new virtual production techniques, the College was selected as the preferred bidder to host an Insight and Foresight Unit, alongside partners the British Film Institute (BFI), the University of Edinburgh, and Loughborough University.
The unit will identify the impacts of CoSTAR (Convergent Screen Technologies and Performance in Realtime) and set out the trajectory of the screen and performance sectors.
Partnering on degrees in Dance
We partnered with IRIE! Dance theatre to validate its Diverse Dance Styles degree. Established in 2018, this pioneering course was the first of its kind to present African, Caribbean, Contemporary and Hip-Hop styles equally.
Our institutions are also co-developing a new MA in Diasporic Dance Styles, which will welcome its first cohort of students in September 2024.
Showcasing student creativity
Our students exhibited the very best of their work in our annual Degree Show season, with shows spanning music, theatre, fine art, design, computing and more.
Work by Izzie Beirne, MFA Fine Art
Marking milestones at Graduation…
Hundreds of students and their supporters gathered at the QEII Centre in central London to celebrate the achievements of our graduands at Winter and Summer Graduation Ceremonies.
…alongside the contributions of inspirational people
As well as celebrating the accomplishments of our students, our graduation ceremonies saw the College award Honorary Degrees and Fellowships to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the arts, culture or community and who reflect our institutional values.
Drag queen, author and recording artist Bimini used their speech to demand justice for Brianna Ghey, while Professor Sir Michael Marmot called for a fairer future for the next generation.
Drag queen, author and recording artist Bimini
Supporting our staff to volunteer
As two of the largest employers in the borough, we teamed up with Lewisham Council to empower colleagues to support their local communities by volunteering. Our new policy supports staff to spend three working days every year volunteering, either as ‘Civic Days’ with organisations in Lewisham or by supporting causes elsewhere.
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Goldsmiths staff taking part in the 3 Rivers Clean Up in South East London
Delivering creative and cultural education nationwide
Through our new partnership with Arts Council England, led by Professor Tara Page, we’re helping schools and other educational settings to embed culture and creativity in their work. At the same time, we’re assisting the Arts Council with its mission to shape creative and cultural education across England.